Aldous Huxley Quotes

I prefer thought to action, an idea to a transaction, contemplation to activity.

A big man has no time really to do anything but just sit and be big.

What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?

Men of action, above all those whose actions are guided by love, live forever.

In great deeds something abides.

Tom Clarke is dead. He has not our responsibilities. Nobody will ever know what he would do for the situation did not arise for him. But is has risen for us and we must face it with our intelligence and conscious of our responsibility.

We are a kind of posterity in respect to them.

What we lack is not so much leisure to do as time to reflect and time to feel. What we seldom "take" is time to experience the things that have happened, the things that are happening, the things that are still ahead of us.

One sits down first; one thinks afterwards.

Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale, but surely, a great rich country like ours will see that those who are dependent on us are properly provided for.

Action should be founded on contemplation, and those of us who act don't put enough time, don't give enough emphasis, to contemplation.

Nothing. My father is very good at doing nothing. He calls it thinking.

Besides we are men, and after all it is our business to risk our lives.

I wonder if people will ever say, 'Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring.' And they'll say 'Yes, that's one of my favorite stories. Frodo was really courageous, wasn't he, Dad?' 'Yes, my boy, the most famousest of hobbits. And that's saying a lot.'

The troops of other states have their reputation to gain, the sons of the Alamo have theirs to maintain.

That quotation about not having time to stand and stare has never applied to me. I seem to have spent a good part of my life - probably too much - in just standing and staring and I was at it again this morning.

If I die, what a beautiful death.

A man must find his occasions in himself, it is true. The natural day is very calm, and will hardly reprove his indolence.

Saying that I've THOUGHT about it doesn't mean that I'm DOING it.

I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business.

For we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heros of all time have gone before us.

You see more sitting still than chasing after.

To meditate is to labour; to think is to act.

Doing nothing is sometimes one of the highest of the duties of man.

Say it to them. Or say it to yourself in the mirror. Say it in a letter you'll never send or in a book millions might read someday. I think you deserve to look back on your life without a chorus of resounding voices saying 'I could've, but it's too late now.'